OT - Bill Paying via PC

Bill VA · Oct 17, 2015

Thinking about stepping further into this century on the bill paying front and attempting to do it via my PC.

Not talking about automated bill pay where, say the electric bill comes due and the power company automatically takes the money out of the checking account, but it comes due and I pull the trigger to pay, etc.

Anyone manually paying bills via their computer? Special software needed or something you work through an online bank account or directly on, as an example, like the power company's web site?

Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

806man · Oct 17, 2015

I am no way a tech guy. I can some what make my way around a computer. I do have my utilities set up on auto pay. Heck, since they come due so often why not?? But things like insurance ect. I just go to there website and set up my on line bill pay account. I use the option that lets me transfer the money directly out of my bank account and not a credit card then I know when or what was paid. Might not be what everyone else does but it works for me and I am in control of my spending.

John(OR) · Oct 17, 2015

Been doing it for years pretty simple, like you say don't do it with auto payments.
Go to each company's website it will walk you through setup piece of cake makes it easy and fast. Great when you travel

Andy Wickiser · Oct 17, 2015

What you describe is what I do ie. manually paying bills online through my bank using online banking. Most banks offer online bill pay. My bank happens to be Huntington. What you do is register each payee once using the name and address from a current bill. Then to make a payment just log on then go to the Bill pay tab and type in the amount you want to pay and who you want to pay it to from your list of registered payees. It's really slick and has never failed me.

Part Time Pete · Oct 17, 2015

i've finally started to use my debit card vs. my check book, although I still don't like the idea of the brown shirts being able to track everything I buy. I still use old fashioned checks for monthly payments though - old habits die hard I guess
Pete

john in la · Oct 17, 2015

My bank offers bill pay but I very seldom use it and only on one account that that will not let me pay the bill at there web site.

Other than that I pay every bill I have on the companies web site using one time pay.
I also have quicken installed on my computer and it keeps my checking balance up to date and stores when every bill is due.

bobs old iron · Oct 17, 2015

i called the g&e company, few others, long time ago, and set it up so when i call in my payment, it asks me if i want to use account # !!!!, not a auto pay, in case paycheck hasn't be deposited yet, that way they can't take it out.. opps, need to make a payment tonight before late charge,,,lol

Mark - IN. · Oct 17, 2015

I still write checks. That's how far I am behind the times. There is one grocery store that I shop at where one of the evening managers also works full time at a bank during the day. Every time she sees me, she gives me what for because I write checks at the registers that deduct payment immediately as opposed to using a debit card, which she says that I should be using. I'm worse than you.

Mark

Greg1959 · Oct 17, 2015

I don't like banks (have I posted that too many times?). Cash only.

black · Oct 17, 2015

There nothing as good as personal banking , but I've been paying my bills on line and it's so easy . I went to the bank and they inserted the bills I wanted to pay . But you need to set up your own security entrance to your accout . Mine needs 3 stages to paas before it lets me in , so it's pretty much bullet proof , and if I make mistakes or time out it logs me out . I wrote the 3 passwords down and stored them in a safe place.

Larry --ont.

tomNE · Oct 17, 2015

(quoted from post at 04:35:41 10/18/15) There nothing as good as personal banking , but I've been paying my bills on line and it's so easy . I went to the bank and they inserted the bills I wanted to pay . But you need to set up your own security entrance to your accout . Mine needs 3 stages to paas before it lets me in , so it's pretty much bullet proof , and if I make mistakes or time out it logs me out . I wrote the 3 passwords down and stored them in a safe place.

Larry --ont.

I pay everything online that i can. if they take a cc without an extra charge, i go that way, as i get cash back from cc company!

Billy Shafer · Oct 18, 2015

I have been paying on line for years. No problem. But I refuse to do the auto pay.

Rkh · Oct 18, 2015

I use bill pay for years & no issues-saves on stamps & checks.

JOCCO · Oct 18, 2015

Meet your brother

Bret4207 · Oct 18, 2015

(quoted from post at 06:16:14 10/18/15) I have been paying on line for years. No problem. But I refuse to do the auto pay.

Same here.

Leroy · Oct 18, 2015

Wife did the bill paying on line for several years till She passed 7 months ago. No auto pay tho. I had to go back to checks for what I cannot do in person with the bank card. Just not computor smart enough.

dpendzic · Oct 18, 2015

I don't do direct bank to merchant pay--just about all bills go to my credit card including auto pay---that way I always have recourse on a bill error---then make one transfer per month from bank account to credit card --approximately $15K per year

John M · Oct 18, 2015

Every bill we pay is via online banking. I set up the account, and when it due I pay it. I do not use say like, the power companies website to pay the bill. Everything is on my banks website.

hermit · Oct 18, 2015

M-MAN · Oct 18, 2015

Online banking works fine with the bill pay they have. I use auto pay on most stuff & I set it to pay as soon as the bill arrives. Seems like most folks set it by the due date. I have upper limits on each bill also. The cc is strictly manual.

Dave H (MI) · Oct 18, 2015

I have done it now for several years and it is really a good thing. Keeps everything organized by vendor and makes it easier to keep a checkbook. I rarely do auto pay, but in some cases it is a good thing. Because I am almost always working on some job, it is easy to forget a payment is due. If that payment is a car lease or such, it can mess up your credit. So those I like to have auto paid. What I will NOT do is allow a company to take money from the account without first providing an invoice. United Health Care was the worst with this and I had no choice. You did not even get told if your rate went up. I dumped them when I could and now everyone provides a monthly statement and everyone is paid on line.

Geo-TH,In · Oct 18, 2015

I use auto-bill pay form checking or or some like using my credit cards. All credit cards are then auto paided the day they come due from checking. No late fees, no checks, no stamps, no envelopes, never had a problem. Been doing it over 25 years. I like paying anything I can with credit cards, which then pay me either 1, 2, 3 or 5% cash back. I make hundreds a year using credit cards that are auto paid. Credit card companies make absolutely no money off me, not penny one. Another advantage using credit cards is I have back up records for business expenses.

1948CaseVAI · Oct 18, 2015

Have been doing it for several years and love it. My credit union informed all members a year ago that they will no longer support physical checks as of 2017 so all members have to start using debit cards and online bill paying or else move their accounts. I don't understand why everyone doesn't do online bill pay already. I do not use the credit union bill pay feature - I pay at each vendor's site.

JML755 · Oct 18, 2015

We also have Huntington and like Andy says, works great. The bank does electronic transfers for big companies (like utilities), sends a check to smaller ones. A couple of times, the bank messed up and didn't get a check out. We got late notice, called the bank and they took care of it, paid the fees, no hit to our credit rating.

J.Wondergem · Oct 18, 2015

We pay just about all of ours by computer, by the way of our banks site. I don't feel comfortable with them just withdrawing it.

mj · Oct 18, 2015

(quoted from post at 20:24:47 10/17/15) What you describe is what I do ie. manually paying bills online through my bank using online banking. Most banks offer online bill pay. My bank happens to be Huntington. What you do is register each payee once using the name and address from a current bill. Then to make a payment just log on then go to the Bill pay tab and type in the amount you want to pay and who you want to pay it to from your list of registered payees. It's really slick and has never failed me.

I've had the same experience with Wells Fargo and have many recurring payments set up to pay each month or quarter so........DITTO!

Hobo,NC · Oct 18, 2015

I lost my check book 3 years ago I was a die hard check writer...
After the mess of going thru changing may bank account and searching for numbers to call to get the auto drafts changed I went to plastic and pay on line when I can...

I don't miss tote'N a check book... But when I do its a big arse poky dotted check book

You could not miss it if your life depended on it,,,,

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Oct 18, 2015

Looks like I might be in the minority here. I prefer to just make phone calls and pay by credit card. I then pay the credit card the same way each month. Pretty tough to steal financial info off my PC when it was never there to start with.

INCase · Oct 19, 2015

i do most of ours thru our banks (USAA) online bill paying service. kinda nice. never have to worry about checks clearing or getting lost in the mail or checks that don't clear for a month then go thru ect ect.

Most accounts will come up in their system when they search for whom your trying to pay.

works well.

Our credit unions bill pay system wasn't as user friendly but i think they've updated it.

We don't do anything automatically except a car loan with that bank that saves us 0.25%

still write a check for the mortgage and the water bill. can't set water up online and I'm not gonna let them take out what they want.

GeneMO · Oct 19, 2015

Wife uses a combination of automatic drafts and bill paying online on all but one bill.

The water company has not joined this century yet and we still have to write one check.

We get e-mail statements, do on-line bank statements, and can move money between accounts.

I borrowed money for a pick-up about 3 years ago, did it through my credit union in another state, never have met the loan officers, dont know where their office is physically, money showed up in my account, I bought the truck, and did it all from my desk and smart phone.

We have never had a minutes problems in the probably 10 years we have gone this route.

But my wife does watch the accounts pretty well, so we would catch a hacker or probelm quickly I hope.

Good luck,

Gene

Bill VA · Oct 19, 2015

Thanks everyone! Very helpful info.

Wife and I went out and bought an Apple Mac Mini (we already have IPads and iPhones), hooked up our old dead windows pc's monitor, mouse and keyboard. Then we got setup with our bank for manual online bill pay. Pretty slick - so far.......

Thanks again,
Bill

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